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The Ryzen 5 7600 and Intel Core i5 12400F are two of the most popular 6-core CPUs, but which is the best? That’s what we plan to find today.
The Ryzen 5 7600 is AMD’s most popular 6-core CPU in the AM5 platform. On the other hand, the Core i5 12400F is Intel’s most popular 6-core processor. The question is which 6-core processor is the best, and which delivers the most value? Well, that’s exactly what we plan to find out today. Read on to learn more.
Note: Parts of this article are subjective and reflect the writer’s opinions.
Ryzen 5 7600 vs Intel Core i5 12400F: Detailed Comparison
The Ryzen 5 7600 is based on the Zen 4 architecture, while the Intel Core i5 12400F is designed on the Alder Lake architecture. Today, we will witness the battle of the 6-core processors. Let’s begin with their specs first to get a better idea of what they are capable of.
Specs Comparison
Here are the specs of the Ryzen 5 7600 and Intel Core i5 12400F:
| Specifications | AMD Ryzen 5 7600 | Intel Core i5 12400F |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Zen 4 | Alder Lake |
| Core/Thread count | 6/12 | 6/12 |
| Max clock speed | 5.1 GHz | 4.4 GHz |
| L3 cache | 32 MB | 18 MB |
| RAM support | DDR5-5200 | DDR4-3200 DDR5-4800 |
| PCIe Gen support | Gen 5 | Gen 5 |
| Platform Socket | AM5 | LGA 1700 |
| Thermal design power (TDP) | 65W Typical | 88W Max | 65W Typical | 117W Max |
| Manufacturing nodes | 5nm, 6nm | 10nm |
As per the specs table, both the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and Intel Core i5 12400F have the same number of cores. However, the former has higher clock speeds and more cache, which are crucial in games.
Synthetic Performance Comparison
Here’s how the Ryzen 5 7600 and Intel Core i5 12400F perform in popular synthetic benchmarks:
| Benchmarks | AMD Ryzen 5 7600 | Intel Core i5 12400F |
|---|---|---|
| Cinebench R23 (Single-Core) | 1858 | 1704 |
| Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core) | 14344 | 12047 |
| Geekbench 6 (Single-Core) | 2797 | 2300 |
| Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core) | 12486 | 9477 |
| Passmark CPU (Single-Core) | 3909 | 3485 |
| Passmark CPU (Multi-Core) | 27028 | 19488 |
The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is around 14% faster than the Intel Core i5 12400F in single-core benchmarks. However, in multi-core benchmarks, the former delivers around 31% more performance than the latter. It will be interesting to see if the Ryzen CPU maintains the same lead in gaming as well.
Game Performance Comparison
Here’s how the Ryzen 5 7600 and Intel Core i5 12400F handle some of the popular games on the market:
| Games | AMD Ryzen 5 7600 | Intel Core i5 12400F |
|---|---|---|
| A Plague Tale Requiem | 109 FPS | 96 FPS |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 121 FPS | 100 FPS |
| Assassin’s Creed Odyssey | 121 FPS | 103 FPS |
| Dying Light 2 | 205 FPS | 200 FPS |
| Far Cry 6 | 172 FPS | 138 FPS |
| Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered | 102 FPS | 84 FPS |
| Starfield | 110 FPS | 91 FPS |
| The Witcher 3 | 231 FPS | 204 FPS |
| Hitman 3 | 148 FPS | 146 FPS |
| Doom Eternal | 274 FPS | 213 FPS |
| Forza Horizon 5 | 181 FPS | 133 FPS |
| God of War 2018 | 137 FPS | 133 FPS |
Note: The two CPUs were tested at 1080p resolution with the Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU to eliminate any GPU bottleneck. All FPS numbers were sourced from the Odin Hardware channel on YouTube.
On average, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 has achieved around 16.4% more FPS than the Intel Core i5 12400F. Therefore, the Ryzen CPU is better in gaming. It has consistently delivered more frame rates in every game that was tested.
Price Comparison
The Ryzen 5 7600 is currently selling for around $184.99 on Newegg. On the other hand, the Intel Core i5 12400F sells for $116 on Newegg. Therefore, the Ryzen processor is almost 60% more expensive, which is a significant price premium over the Intel CPU.
Final Verdict on Ryzen 5 7600 vs Intel Core i5 12400F
The Ryzen 5 7600 is around 14 to 31% faster in productivity and around 16.4% faster in gaming compared to the Intel Core i5 12400F. Therefore, the Ryzen CPU is the better CPU, but it is also almost 60% more expensive, which negates its value. Due to this, we recommend that users buy the Intel Core i5 12400F instead, as it delivers a higher price-to-performance ratio.
We cannot recommend the Ryzen processor in this comparison since the performance uplift it delivers is not worth the price premium it is selling for. All the funds saved from buying the Intel CPU can be utilized towards other components, such as motherboards and high-speed DDR5 RAM.
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